


Where There Are Nightmares

by cathcacen



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire, Asoiaf - Fandom, GoT - Fandom, a game of thrones - Fandom, game of thrones
Genre: F/M, jon snow x sansa stark - Freeform, jon x sansa - Freeform, jonsa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 06:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13734663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathcacen/pseuds/cathcacen
Summary: Sansa finds herself back in an uncomfortable place following the Boltons' defeat; Ghost thinks Jon needs to go cheer her up.





	Where There Are Nightmares

She was _back_. 

By some twisted stroke of bad luck, she’d wound up back in the chambers that had been hers when she’d been Lady Bolton. She was sure Jon had no idea, and really, considering everything that had happened since the Stark banners had gone back up, it seemed silly to even think of asking for another. The castle was full as it were, playing host to the lords and ladies who had come, once again, to see Winterfell as it ought to been. 

In Stark hands.

She swallowed, fighting hard to push the lump in her throat down. _Here_ , she thinks. Here is where Ramsay held me down. Here is where Ramsay made Theon watch. Here is where he beat me, and here is where he lay me down, playing with me like a cat with a mouse.

She shivered, tugging her fur closer about herself. She could feel it still. The razor-sharp tip of his knife dragging along her back, daring her to rebel as he’d had his way with her. She’d learnt to lay still. 

Here is where she’d learnt to die.

She does not undress, nor does she sit upon the hateful bed in the corner. It’s hours before she manages to find some semblance of rest, curled up in the corner by the fire, cloak and dress and sleeves tangled about her frame. She thinks she cries, screams, but when she opens her eyes, it’s to a pair of gleaming red jewels, watching her.

For a moment, she thinks to scream, because how could her nightmares be real? Then, the eyes soften, and she sees that it is only Ghost, who lets out a soft, keening whine and nuzzles her face. Uninvited, but loving. He smells like Jon, of iron and blood and soot. She lets out a breath, sinking into the thick, slightly matted fur. 

“Hi, Ghost.” She murmurs. “It was just a dream. I’m okay.”

The direwolf must know; surely, he knew, that in her dreams, she saw Rickon punctured with arrows. She saw her father’s head, drained of blood, and her mother’s corpse, bloated with fishwater. She saw Robb, now a twisted abomination, wolf’s head and man’s body. She saw Arya and Bran, both consumed by fire and ice. 

She saw Jon, dead upon the table.

Ghost surely knew, for how else could a wolf know to comfort a lady? His tongue was rough upon her cheeks, as he licked the salt away. He is thick and heavy, just as Lady had been sweet and soft.

But he was family, and all that she had. Him, and Jon.

Jon, who stood at her open door, silently observing her where she sat in a heap upon the floor. She hadn’t noticed him there. It occurred to her then, that Ghost had brought him.

It was hard to bite down the twinge of envy she felt at the connection she herself now lacked. _All because you were a stupid girl, with stupid dreams, who let her direwolf die for a stupid lie._

Jon slips quietly into the room and shuts the door. He seats himself at the edge of the bed, watching as she runs her fingers through Ghost’s coat.

“Can’t sleep?” His voice is gruff, and slightly hoarser than she remembered. The lines beneath his eyes tell the same tale.

She busies herself with Ghost. She’s not certain she’s ready to tell Jon about all that transpired in the chamber. All that transpired in the very bed he’d settled upon.

“It’s all I think about.” She starts, after what seems like an eternity. “Everything that was taken from me.”

Jon lowers his gaze a little. His eyes are sunken; so very sunken. It strikes her that he’s seen as much sorrow, and perhaps even more. And suddenly it seems so very wrong that she should expect him to comfort her, when it was so very obvious that he needed it, too.

“I’m sorry, Jon.” She begins, again. Ghost pads after her as she gets to her feet, and makes her way to the bed. With Jon there, it is much less ominous. For all he could look like a bear, she knew Jon, brave, gentle, strong Jon, would never hurt her.

She reminds herself of these as she lowers herself onto the bedding by his side. Then she takes his hand. “Tell me we’ll make it. Tell me we’ll get Arya and Bran back. Tell me, Jon.” She pleads.

He lifts his head a little to look at her, a barely-there smile tugging at the edges of his lips. “We’ll get them back. We’ll survive this long night.” He pauses, then adds, wearily, “And if we must die, I give you my word that I will protect your dignity and honour your wishes.”

She smiles a little. _Perhaps he’d heard me, after all. Nobody can protect anybody, but maybe Jon can._ Slowly, she sinks into his side. 

It surprises even her, that it comes so easily. Bonelessly, she leans into him. _It has been so long,_ she thinks. _So long since I could trust someone to give their life for me. So long since I could trust someone who loved me enough to let me die, instead of keeping me alive to suffer the will of other men._

Slowly, and bit by bit, she tells him. There in the corner, was where Ramsay had backed her into the wall, whip in hand. There, by the table, was where Theon had told her the truth about their brothers. Here, in the bed, was where Ramsay kept her.

They cry together, and promise to do better by, and for one another. He holds her close, closer than she’s ever remembered being held by anybody. And when morning comes, he orders new chambers prepared for her.

He never stops showing up.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, my first ever Jonsa piece. Reposted from over in Tumblr, where all my Jonsa drabbles have been kept up to now lul.
> 
> The idea for this one occurred to me as I was drifting off to sleep; no smut, but lots of hugging and general love between our two favourite people. Hope y'all have enjoyed it!


End file.
